Lithuanians Vote in Presidential Runoff That Shuns Populists
Lithuanians Vote in Presidential Runoff That Shuns Populists
(Bloomberg) -- Lithuanians are voting in a presidential runoff that will deliver a sure win for mainstream political forces even as nationalist parties from Rome to Helsinki try to increase their clout at this week’s European Parliament elections.
Both candidates, ex-Finance Minister Ingrida Simonyte and former Nordic bank economist Gitanas Nauseda, have pledged to fight economic inequality, reject populism and keep the Baltic country of 2.8 million oriented toward the European Union’s liberal values. Polls opened Sunday at 7 a.m. and will close at 8 p.m.
The ballot is marked by unambiguously pro-EU sentiment and represents a win for the parties trying to push back against surging nationalism among Lithuania’s post-communist peers. Ruling parties in Poland, Estonia and Hungary are vying with other euroskeptics to make inroads, having clashed with Brussels over a drift away from the multiculturalism and rule of law that underpin the union’s foundation.
“Human rights and respect for people are the most important features of a mature society,” Simonyte said during an open-air debate in Vilnius, the capital, on Friday.
Backed by the opposition Christian Democrat Homeland Union party, she won the May 12 first round with a razor-thin margin of just over 5,000 votes, but Nauseda, an independent, is seen as the potential runoff favorite and has the endorsement of the ruling party.
Its candidate, Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis, was knocked out in the first round after he blamed Simonyte and the central bank for mistakes during the global financial crisis. After his loss, he threatened to resign and dissolve his government a year before regular elections, but he later recanted after the governing Peasants and Greens Union confirmed support for him last week.
“Both candidates in the runoff campaigned on similar center-right policies,” said Tomas Janeliunas, a professor of political science at Vilnius University. “The Lithuanian voters show they don’t succumb to the wave of anti-systemic, extremist sentiment trending elsewhere in Europe. It may be a good signal also for other countries.”
While the president has limited powers over domestic issues, the post provides moral authority that can influence government policies.
The driving issue in the election debate has been frustration over the second-worst level of inequality in the EU, which both candidates have pledged to address. There’s also lingering pain from the effects of economic crisis-era policies that included cuts to pensions and wages under EU-endorsed austerity programs that Simonyte spearheaded while finance minister.
“What we must seek is that, with the euro adopted, incomes would truly be approaching Western standards, and this must be achieved as soon as possible,” Nauseda said during the final debate. He called for raising the minimum wage and allowing it to track average incomes.
The winner will replace Dalia Grybauskaite, another former economist who’s a harsh critic of neighboring Russia. Grybauskaite herself has been floated in Brussels as a possible candidate to take over the presidency of the EU Council or the role of foreign policy chief for the bloc after the EU Parliament vote.
To contact the reporter on this story: Milda Seputyte in Vilnius at mseputyte@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Stephen Treloar, James Amott
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